The Vision Of Mako
by The Ephemeral Sanity
Summary: If you were blind your whole life and for the first time you gained the ability to see, how would you describe what you see? Would you automatically point out that an apple is an apple? Meet Mako, a blind girl who was able to see for the first time using the Nerve Gear. Trapped in Sword Art Online, how will she cope up with the new experience of sight? (SYOC, Recruitment open)
1. Prologue

**The Vision of Mako  
By The Ephemeral Sanity**

**Prologue**

* * *

_"Can't you see?"_

* * *

If you were blind your whole life and then for the first time you gained the ability to see, how would you describe what you see? Would you automatically point out that an apple is an apple and that it's red? Would you automatically describe that the sky and the ocean is blue? Would you automatically gain the ability to read written words that you've learned through braille? No, of course not.

By using a device called the _Nerve Gear_, Kayaba Mako gained the ability to see for the first time ever. It was a whole new experience for her that she couldn't describe. Palette of colours were surging through her eyes as she was being ported to a new world of floating rings of swords in various sizes and a chunk of floating land with a huge spiral Colosseum in the middle of it.

"Would the word _beautiful_ be a perfect fit to describe this?" She asked herself as she continued to stare at the scenery.

* * *

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, happy birthday. Happy birthday, Mako!" A crowd of people sang her the all time birthday song with much joy and enthusiasm.

"Happy birthday, Mako-chan," Koujiro Rinko approved her with a gift at hand and placed in on Mako's lap. "Here, this is our birthday present to you."

Mako had her hands touch the gift and observed it silently with a smile on her face.

"Thank you, everyone."

* * *

[System]: "Welcome to Sword Art Online."

* * *

**Author's Note:** Hello everyone, this is Ephesa and thank you for reading a sneak peak of my 2nd fan fiction story. The idea of this just popped into my mind one day and I was like "Oh, wouldn't it be interesting to actually tell Sword Art Online from a blind's perspective?". So there you have it. Everything written here is just straight from the draft section and no parts were edited.

Please review your thoughts about this. =w=b

If anyone is interested in sending OCs for this story, the recruitment page will be posted up soon. Thanks!


	2. Recruitment Page Open

**The Vision Of Mako**  
**By The Ephemeral Sanity**

**Recruitment Page**

* * *

[Ephesa]: "Hello everyone! Like I've said in the previous chapter, I would be recruiting OCs from different authors. Feel free to send me one if you are interested in participating in **The Vision Of Mako**. But just to let everyone have the opportunity to join in the fun, I would limit it to **one OC submission per author**. The stuff below is the guide on how you would write and send your OCs to me. :) **Please read everything carefully**."

* * *

[How to send Ephesa your OC]:  
"Simply write on the review section on this particular page of the story (2. Recruitment Page). As much I would like to do this in Private Messaging, I can't since there would be a cluster fuck of messages between OC submissions and personal messages from the Role-Playing forums that I'm in. I would really be thankful if the **OC submissions are posted only on this page and nowhere else.** Thanks. 8D"

* * *

[How to know if Ephesa accepts your OC]:  
"Pretty much I have to be personal with this so I would probably send you a PM or post an announcement about the Recruitment on the next update. If there are certain complications with the OC that you've sent, it would be most likely to be a PM. So always expect me to buzz you a message if you sent me your OC. ;) Be prepared!"

* * *

[How to actually write your OC bio data for the Recruitment]:  
It's the same thing as any other bio data forms, but with just some clarifications, additional information, and notes to be added. Everything below must be filled.

**[Original Character Recruitment Sheet]**

**[IGN]:** In-game name. The name of your character in the game. Make it unique as possible! Add numbers if you want. Treat it as if you were actually typing an IGN in a real game. If you want to include a note about how your character got that name, please feel free to do so.

**[Real Life Name]:** The name of your character in real life.

**[Age]:** The age of your character. Please as much as possible, I would like it to stay 16 and above.

**[Gender]:** Male or Female.

**[Sexuality]:** Which way does your character swing? 8D. Straight, gay, bi, lesbian, asexual, etc. Wherever your OC swings, be free as the wind.

**[Appearance]:** This section includes all body looks only: Hair - length/style/colour. Body - shape/size/height. Eyes - shape/colour/size. Tattoos and other special quirks are much oblige. Be creative and unique.

**[Armour]:** What kind of armour does your character have on? Is it light, leather, heavy? How does it look like? Any special details in the armour that you want to point out? The more details you give me, the more I could showcase your character's style in clothing.

**[Personality]:** What is the personality of your character? How does your OC deal with other people? How would s/he deal with the main character, Mako? Please be as descriptive as possible.

**[Weapon]:** What kind of weapon does your character wield? If your OC wields more than one weapon, what are they and what do those weapon look like?

**[Fighting Style]:** How does your character fight? Is s/he tactical to plan ahead before fighting? Is s/he aggressive that on the first sight of an enemy s/he takes the first strike? Or does s/he avoid battle at all cost? Like I stated before, please be more detailed. The more details, the better performance.

**[Interests]:** What are your OC's interests? Love matters?

**[Weakness]:** What is your OC's kryptonite? Please state the reason why?

**[History]:** What is the story behind your OC? How did s/he got in to Sword Art Online? What drives him or her to live on Sword Art Online?

**[Romantic Affiliation]:** Is your character in love with someone? Is it the main character Mako?

**[How would your character act towards Mako]:**

**[How would you feel if your character was killed]:**

**[If your OC would die, how would s/he die]:**

**[Are you prepared to be Jesus and resurrect after 3 days]:** Why? 8D

**[Do you have something else to say to the author of this story]:**

* * *

[Ephesa]: "Okay, that's everything for now unless I get deeply interested in your OC that I would bombard you with a thousand question worth of text. I would entertain questions and other things! Anyway, happy holidays everyone!"


	3. Chapter One

**The Vision Of Mako  
By The Ephemeral Sanity**

**Chapter One**

* * *

_"Can't you see? A sad story is about to be told."_

* * *

A monotonous female voice greeted Mako to a world swirling with colours that she couldn't describe. Along with the voice greeting, there was a pop up text in front of her that she couldn't understand as it was her first time seeing it.

[System]: "Welcome to Sword Art Online, Mako. I am Cardinal. I will be your aid as you venture into the land of swords."

Mako slowly led her hands towards the pop up text which held the same message as the one spoken earlier ago. But of course, it was her first time of ever seeing her own hands. So she retracted it back and observed it more closely like a child whose eyes are full of curiosity. Mako caressed her hands, remembering the feeling of it when she was unable to see.

[Mako]: "Are these what they call hands?" _Fascinating._

Suddenly out of nowhere, a male with pink hair and wearing a bandana bumped into her which made Mako fall into the cobblestone floor with a loud thud. She cringed for the impact but then, she felt nothing. Surprisingly, there was no pain. Mako gazed at her hands first and then averted to look at the man who had bumped into her.

He slowly turned around, while walking backwards towards his destination, he clasped both his hands together gesturing that he was sorry.

[Klein]: "Ah shit. Sorry my bad! Bye!" _As much as I'd like to help, I need to catch that guy. He looks like he's been here before!_

Then he bid a goodbye as he continued to run recklessly. It happened so fast that Mako couldn't comprehend the earlier predicament.

[Vance]: "Some guys are just born to be assholes."

A tall male swordsman wearing a dark blue starting over all armour set said as he scratched his black hair while facing the direction where the pink-haired guy went off to. He quickly ran his fingers through his fair as he turned around to see Mako still sitting on the ground with a surprised face. His heterochromatic eyes which was blue and green made contact with Mako's red eyes, making time stop for a moment around them.

[Raijin]: "Well, if you keep standing there like an idiot and not help, you'd be one too."

A taller male swordsman wearing a white armour set much like the previous man said as he reached for Mako's hand to haul her up. His voice made Mako avert her eyes to the blue and green-eyed male. He had an unkempt semi-long brown hair and light brown eyes that stared right back at her red ones.

[Raijin]: "Here, take my hand." _Female avatar, must be a trap._

Mako nodded and slowly took his hand. With the help of Raijin, she stood up and regained her composure. She mouthed a shy thank you.

[Mako]: "Thanks." _Masculine voice...is this what they call men? _

He replied back with a dashing smile that made a couple of wandering female adventurers stop for a moment and enjoy the view.

[Raijin]: "No problem." _Just act casual and smile._

Vance came over towards Raijin and Mako to talk to them.

[Vance]: "Are you okay?"

He asked Mako while checking her gesture and composure out.

[Mako]: "Yes."

She replied while looking at his directly in the eye.

[Vance]: "Uh..." _How can she look at people so directly into the eyes. Those eyes looks so innocent, ugh. I feel sinful. _"You seem like this is your first time playing a VRMMORPG."

Mako nodded and replied.

[Mako]: "Yes."

Vance smiled and continuously patted Mako at the back while he laughed as he talked.

[Vance]: "I see, I see. No wonder you look so stiff. Don't worry, playing a VRMMO is just like living in reality but packed with action and adventure! Fighting monsters, saving towns, becoming the hero and slay the final boss at the highest part of the tower! Thinking about it makes my blood boil in excitement." _There are so many things we could do in this world!_

[Mako]: _Uh... he sounds happy, I guess. I don't know why but this feels uncomfy._

Raijin's eyes was cringing as he felt sorry Mako who was continuously being patted at the back. Even though players couldn't feel pain, she looked rather uncomfortable.

[Raijin]: _Someone needs to stop this guy. _"Vance, I think you should-."

[Vance]: "Oh, I have an idea!"

Vance cut him off and suggested an idea that involves the three of them. He swung his arm around Raijin's neck and swing his other arm around Mako's. The three of them huddle up in the middle of the marketplace that made them stand out from the crowd.

[Vance]: "How about the three of us party up? I think you're cool with that Raijin, right? We were about to go out to the fields to level up to. Might as well be a good onii-chan and help the newbie, right?"

Raijin sighed but then smiled. It wouldn't hurt to party with a happy guy and a new girl (if she is one).

[Raijin]: "I guess it can't be help then. I can't leave a girl like her in your hands. Have you heard how you sound when you said _onii-chan_? You should be ashamed. You sound like a pedophile."

Vance looked hurt and scoffed.

[Vance]: "What?! I don't!"

Raijin laughed and shrugged Vance's arm off of his shoulder. He placed his right hand on his hips and looked at Mako and Vance.

[Raijin]: "Anyway, it would be a good idea that before we party with each other let's introduce ourselves first. IGN, Raijin. My friends call me Shin."

Vance took off his arm around Mako and introduced himself. He pointed his right thumb at himself while holding a toothy grin on his countenance.

[Vance]: "The name's Vance. But you can call me _onii-chan _if you want."

Raijin faked a cough and inserted a word.

[Raijin]: "Creep."

[Vance]: "Hey!"

Mako laughed and then introduced herself.

[Mako]: "My name is Kayaba Mako. Nice to meet you."

Both men looked at her with big eyes the moment she said Kayaba. In the most crowded streets of the marketplace of the Town of Beginnings, there was an isolated imaginary circle that was silent as the two men, Raijin and Vance processed the same thing in their heads.

[Raijin]: "Mako. By any chance, are you related to Kayaba Akihiko?" _Damn, if she says yes, we're in luck._

Mako nodded and replied with much adoration as she proudly said,

[Mako]: "Yes! He's my most beloved onii-chan."

[Vance]: "For real?! Man this is awesome!"

* * *

[System]: "Party forged."

* * *

**Author's note:** Hello everyone! Thanks for reading this chapter. I'm still trying to figure out how to flesh out the OCs sent to me, so please bare with me. Although that might be said, I find it very enjoyable to write down this chapter. As you can see, I've written some of my dry humours there. XD If the OC owners can give me better jokes, feel free to do so.

* * *

**Recruitment Page Announcement:** I thank everyone who submitted OCs on the first shot. I'll try my best to give them a good role in the story. Please just have patience as make ideas and write the story. :) So far, these are the OCs that have been accepted and will be used starting from this chapter onwards.

[Vance] Owner: **Tears of a Spirit**

[Raijin] Owner: **PandorasBox12**

The two OCs are theirs~. Thank you for submitting them to me. For the two said authors, please give me your thoughts about how I used your characters. Also, if you want me to change something or you want me to add things, feel free to inform me. I'm open to ideas and changes.

To everyone who read this super long author's note, thanks. Please write a review about your thoughts for this chapter. It would really help me out. Thanks! **Also SYOC is still open, so write your OCs at the Recruitment page of the story**!

Until the next update~


	4. Chapter Two

**The Vision of Mako  
By The Ephemeral Sanity**

**Chapter Two**

* * *

"_A calamity triggered by a female in blind set thousands of souls in an endless smite."_

* * *

Being blind made half of the words in the dictionary useless to Mako. Words associated with the ability to see was just a matter of concept to her that she would never understand until now. Lights, colours, visual details, and all else. Her red eyes glow bright as she keenly looked at her surroundings like a child at the park while her party took the road leading outside the town and to the fields. Every second, she enjoyed the privilege of having the sense of sight.

Raijin led the way followed by Vance who was holding Mako's hand like a responsible brother looking out for his sibling. Unfortunately, it had to be the case since the girl kept wandering around and getting lost in the abundant crowd and maze-like streets of the town.

The brown haired swordsman turned his head towards his two teammates who was behind him and reminded Vance of the solution to their earlier predicament.

[Raijin]: "Vance, make sure to hold her hand tightly. We wouldn't want her to get lost again for the fifth time." _I wouldn't want another hide and seek again. Just no._

[Vance]: "Yeah, I got you. Stick close to me and watch where you're going, Mako. We're almost outside the town."

[Mako]: "Okay."

After a few minutes of passing through brick stoned buildings, flea markets, and hundreds of players, the three of them finally arrived at the gate outside the town. The cobblestone road ended and beyond it was a land filled with green grass, bush, trees, and other things that can be found in grasslands and forests.

The sun was about three hours near its peak, the sunlight gracefully bestowed radiance over the nature's landscape which made the environment even more appealing to the eyes. Raijin, Vance, and Mako stood at the end road for a moment to let the scenery sink in before they make their way through experience farming.

[Vance]: "Your brother really did a good job in making this game. It's breath taking."

Mako stared at the scenery with a sad smile on her face. Obviously something was up with her expression just now.

[Mako]: "Yeah, he did." _After all, he was always busy with his work that he barely goes home anymore._

The black haired swordsman saw this in an instant and tried to change the topic, hoping that the concave smile on her face would disappear. He faked a cough and asked Raijin where do they go beyond the field.

[Vance]: "Anyway, Raijin, where do we go beyond here? I can see from here that the hills are swarmed with players. There are bound to be kill stealers and player killings involve around those areas. With Mako with us, I don't think its a good idea to start off toe to toe with those kinds of players."

Raijin nodded, agreeing to Vance's logical and reasonable assessment of their situation and surroundings. He looked at the ground for a moment and crossed his arms while he contemplate on his thoughts.

[Raijin]: _Sigh. If only we started a lot sooner, we wouldn't have to worry about finding a good spot to grind. _"I'm not exactly a beta-tester so I wouldn't know. But Sword Art Online is like any other MMO, there's bound to be another area with a less congested population. But with the wave of new players, its most unlikely for us to find a good spot with no people. So we have no choice but to give up on the grasslands."

Mako stood at the middle of the conversation. She wasn't used all these terms that the two guys were using but she got the gist of it. Basically they were talking about where they were going to head off to. She looked over to Raijin (which apparently, she now recognizes not only because of his voice but also how he looks) and tilted her head on the side as she asked him a question.

[Mako]: "So where do we go?"

Before Raijin could even reply, Vance reacted fast for his concern for the whole team.

[Vance]: "Are you suggesting we go to a higher level area? That's insane! You're gonna get us killed."

Raijin laughed at Vance's reaction and turned around to walk forward beyond the gates with a toothy grin on his face.

[Raijin]: "There are three of us, all we need is a good strategy. You'll see and find out eventually when we get there. Even if we get K. we'll be revived somewhere anyway." _What was that again? Oh yeah. _"Haven't you heard? Gamers don't die. We respawn! Haha."

Vance looked at Raijin's figure with a lot of concern. They were still level one who hasn't gained any experience. Raijin looks like a veteran but still, his concern was more on Mako. If anything happens and all of them gets fucked, it might cause trauma to the new gamer. Vance sighed as his troubles began to grow more and more as time continued to pass.

[Vance]: _In any case, I just need to protect her whatever happens._ "Let's go, Mako!"

Mako looked a bit startled as Vance held her hand a bit tighter, but then responded.

[Mako]: "Y-yeah!"

Vance took the lead and walks out of the gates, but as soon as Mako takes a step outside, everything seemed to freeze for a moment as environment and her two male companions turned into molded figures of matrix of codes. The colourful and realistic environment became a black and white with the series of codes streaming endlessly for all as her eyes could see.

She looked at Vance, who was just holding her hand a second ago, now all she could see was the shape of his figure all meshed up in black and coding. It was so difficult to comprehend what was happening. Mako looked at her hands and it was the same thing as before. She was the only one not turned into black and with streams of texts running on it. It was... weird. Not like she wasn't weirded out before things went into shit craze, but all of this felt... unnatural for her.

"What's happening?" She said with her voice shaking in fear of the unknown.

Mako gazed all over the place to look for someone or something similar to her. Left and right, up and down, but there was none. Just as she was about to give up, a figure of a slender albino woman appear before her. The expression the woman held was sad and looked as if she was about to cry her red eyes out. But Mako didn't know that, she only had the feeling of sadness while looking over the woman as she wasn't accustomed on adding visual descriptions on her speech.

"I'm sorry." The albino woman with red eyes shed a tear before she faded away along with the colour black and the streams of codes.

The phenomena was gone.

As soon as she snapped out of a trance, Vance was shaking her really hard while Raijin was at his back; both of them had a worried expression on their faces.

"Mako! Are you alright?" Vance asked as he gripped her shoulders tightly. Raijin was silently waiting for her response.

Her eyes wavered for a moment and hesitated to answer. "What if everything I saw was completely normal? What if it was an illusion of some sort? What if..." Mako thought about the possibilities and realized that she was eating their time. She averted their eyes and nodded. "Yes...I'm fine."

Raijin raised his eyebrow and asked, "What happened?"

"Sorry, it was nothing." Mako smiled and closed her eyes. "Let's move on."

Both of her male companions didn't buy what she said. But they let it slide for now as she felt uncomfortable talking about it.

Mako clenched her hand into a fist as she had a feeling that something changed.

What was it?

* * *

[System]: "Log out option, disabled. Commencing operation, Soul_Cradle."

* * *

Inside a forest just southeast beyond the end of the grasslands lies an unexplored den with beasts unknown to the three protagonist. Mako looked at her two party members and seemed unsure whether going inside the cave would be a good idea. She could not really tell in a good sum of word on what their expression was but she could sense that they were rather uncomfortable and radiated a sense of uncertainty.

"Um... are you two sure that we should go inside?" Mako asked Vance and Raijin.

Raijin was the first to answer as if he slapped the confidence back to his body. "Yeah. If we want to catch up and go on with less people around, this is the best place to gain experience points."

Vance looked over to Mako and scratched the back of his head. "Well in any case, let's just play safe and don't aggro too much monsters. We're not exactly in any level higher than the monsters inside."

Raijin nodded. But before Vance and Mako could advance any further, Raijin asked another question. "Wait, you two. Before going in, we need a good battle strategy. These are monsters on a higher level than us and we don't have any healers or support characters in this game. So, lets start off with the weapons to create a combo. I have a one-handed sword. What about you guys?"

Vance replied, "Same."

The brown haired swordsman, Raijin, nodded as he confirmed Vance's weapon. "What about you Mako? What kind of weapon do you have?"

The two guys looked at Mako who seemed very confused about what they were talking about. Sure, she knows what a weapon is but she was rather unsure what was hers and how to equip it. "Um... what is my weapon?"

Suddenly a strange voice spoke in a monotonous tone. It was similar to the one who greeted her when she just spawned in the game. "Player in voice help, activated. Mako's weapon is a boomerang. A throwing type mid range weapon that is designed to hit the target and fly back to the player. The weapon will automatically be equipped on the player's back when the player exits town or when challenged to a duel."

In voice help? It must be something that her brother designed to guide her throughout the game. Thankfully, it was rather convenient that it automatically activates itself.

"Mako?"

She spoke in a startled fashion, "B-boomerang..."

"What?! Really? Isn't that a mid range weapon?" Vance said with a surprised look on his face. _That's like cheating!_

"A boomerang, huh? Well that makes everything easier for us then," Raijin said as he pictured what their battle strategy would be. _As expected from Kayaba Ahikiho's sister, she's bound to carry something unique and special. _"Okay, I think I have a game plan for us. So, lets head in. I'll explain inside."

Raijin went ahead, summoning a torch from his item menu. Vance nudged Mako and told her to walk with him just to be on the safe inside. Unknowing to them, they entered the den of killer spiders.

* * *

The cave was drenched in darkness with only the echoing sound of dripping water could be heard. Fortunately, Raijin had his torch as he leads the way inside the cave. The light illuminated a ton of giant eggs doused with spider threads along the way. Mako seemed fairly interested on what everything was and wanted to touch all of it but Vance prevented her in doing so.

"Don't! It's dangerous." He said.

Mako sighed and pouted. "Alright."

Raijin stopped ahead and signalled that there was an enemy in sight. "I see a giant spider ahead."

Vance took his sword out of its sheath and said, "So, what's the plan?"

Raijin looked at Mako and began to tell the group his plan, "We let Mako attack it first with her boomerang, once its aggro," He switched gaze to Vance and continued, "We'll go take it from there. We'll switch from attack to parry from time to time, so make sure you're in sync with my rhythm."

Vance smiled, "Sounds good."

On the other hand, Mako looked at the two guys in front of her. "So um, I just throw it towards that?" She pointed at the visible creature in front of them.

Vance nodded. He remembered that Mako was a newbie. "What you do is you take your boomerang, carefully look at your target and then throw it. After that, we'll take it from there."

Mako nodded as she took the boomerang out if its sheath on her back and gazed over the giant spider intensely. She raised her right hand which was holding a boomerang and waited for a second to get the right timing to release it. "Here goes!"

She threw it towards the spider which hit one of its eyes. As the boomerang went back to Mako on which she caught with her right hand, the spider released a sound that signifies that it was aggravated. Raijin and Vance looked over to each other and nodded.

"Let's go!" Both of them said in unison as they dashed towards the spider with their swords at ready.

Vance unleashed a powerful slash on the head of the spider and quickly jumped back. The spider's eyes glowed and tried to attack them with its pincer like mouth. Raijin parried the attack—he shielded himself using his sword against the attack of the spider and gave it a push, causing the spider to fall back on a partial stun status gave Vance another chance to attack. They did the routine a couple of times before the giant spider died.

Each of them got half of the level 1 experience bar already which was a great thing.

Raijin smiled, "Nice." _We'll level up faster if this keeps up._

Everyone in the party seemed to be fine with the battle strategy as they were doing well against the spiders of the cave. The once silent cave was bombarded with sounds of clanking swords and battle cries. It reverberated across the entire tunnels of the underground cave as Mako, Vance and Raijin did a series of attacks against the enemies.

After a while, they got inside the centre of the cave. It was a round area lighted by glowing green stalagmites that were all around the vicinity. There were no monsters around, only spider eggs covered in web so the group decided to rest inside.

"Man! This is easy!" Vance said as he stretched up his arms in the air.

Raijin chuckled as he sat on top of a stone near him. "With a good battle plan, everything is easy."

The two guys entered into a conversation of tactics and strategies as well as the basics of attacks forgetting the girl who was wandering around the area and touching everything that she saw.

Mako was attracted to the glowing green stalagmite as it seemed very peculiar and curious for a lot of reasons. It was... pretty. She was like a moth flying over a lighted candle to it. Mako went around touching stalagmites of various sizes. But there was one stalagmite that was different from the rest; it had an unusual colour.

She decided to touch it. When she did, something clicked.

Raijin called everyone over so they could move on. "Let's head out. We wouldn't want to stay here for long."

As Raijin talked, Mako and Vance froze as they looked up to see something big coming down from the ceiling. Raijin raised an eyebrow and asked, "What are you guys looking at?"

Mako pointed at the Queen giant spider that was coming down behind Raijin. The brown haired swordsman slowly looked over to his back and gazed up with a dead panned face. "Shit," he muttered under his breath.

The spider eggs all around them started to crack open, releasing huge numbers of baby giant spiders. As soon as the Queen spider jumped down its web, Raijin screamed, "RUN!"

All of the spiders began to go after them. Raijin quickly ran for his life while Vance swept Mako from her feet and carried her in bridal style as they ran through the tunnels like there was no tomorrow. In every forked road, they didn't give any thoughts on which way to go. There was only one thing they wanted to find, the exit.

Pants and rampant footsteps reverberated all over the tunnel as Mako, Raijin and Vance head out towards the light that was now in front of them while they ran for their lives with thousands of spider legions and the spider Queen behind their back.

When they got out of the cave, the spiders stopped following them as they were afraid of the lights. But unfortunately, outside of the cave was a huge steep slope downwards that made everyone roll down towards the ground until they reached a nearby waterfall. Raijin stopped by hitting on a tree stump while Vance stopped normally—when he lost speed and acceleration, but got crushed by Mako's weight who fell on top of him.

Everyone panted for a moment but then started to laugh as they got a hold of themselves.

"That was... that was amazing. Haha," Raijin said as he rubbed his head and stood up to regain his composure.

Vance tiredly laughed, "Haha, you should've seen your face when you saw that big ass spider!"

Mako laughed along but as she turned her head, she saw the greatest view she had ever seen yet.

Across the horizon was the burning sky and a thousand floating islands with crystals and other sorts of things placed on top of it. The series of colours enchanted by the harmony of a peaceful environment was breath taking. "Wow..." She muttered.

* * *

"**Initiating ****the ****final ****process of Soul_Cradle**** in 3, 2, 1. Commencing brainwave and alpha-pattern lock on synchronization."** A monotonous voice stated as the progress of the operation made was rising. It was only a matter of time before the project was complete.

The two scientist involved in the project patiently waited for the result as they stared at their experiment with different expressions visible on their countenance. The female scientist, Koujiro Rinko, had anxiety all over her face; whereas the male lead scientist, Kayaba Akihiko, had his poker face on. Both of them knew that failure was not an option for the materials needed in the experiment was priceless.

"**Synchronization: 10% clear."**

One of the materials needed for the experiment was a live human subject with a high IQ brain that can do multiple thought process in a short matter of time. The named of the subject was Kayaba Mako, Kayaba Akihiko's younger sister who was blind and comatose because of a car accident 5 years ago. Although she was comatose, her brain was proven to be even more active than before.

"**Synchronization: 20% clear."**

According to Kayaba's family doctor, Mako had lost all of her memories except for her name. But in order to regain that memory, her brain decided to hibernate and focus on its hippocampus to restore her previous thoughts. So in theory, within Mako's stream of consciousness, floats series of memories that her mind was trying to sort out to fit the program that her brain desires to execute in order to regain consciousness or "wake up".

"**Synchronization: 30% clear."**

It was like playing a game of tetris—placing appropriate blocks of memory to fill up the gaps. But as the process takes place, it was not surprising that the memories could be fabricated by her imagination and perhaps replace the memories that contains the her real experience of the past.

"**Synchronization: 40% clear."**

Kayaba Akihiko deeply loved his sister and was willing to do anything for her. So he thought of a way on how to help her regain her memories back. But in order to even proceed in doing experiments, he needed to get funded. With those variables inserted in an equation, Kayaba had thought of a solution. What if he were to create a virtual reality where he could guide his sister to her memories? Yes, it was an excellent idea. But the main problem was how to coat his idea and get funded.

"**Synchronization: 50% clear."**

He checked the trends and selected one that he could apply his knowledge to. The game industry sounded appealing to him and quickly, he marked it as his target. With the help of his colleague, Koujiro Rinko, he took a step into making the revolutionary console that would make a huge impact in the industry.

"**Synchronization: 60% clear."**

According to the Quality Analysts and selected testers outside of the company, the game was phenomenal and it barely had any flaws to take note on. Being the most unique out of all games that would come out of the market, Sword Art Online became the talk of everyone. The hype level had grown so high that it passed over the 9000 mark and was now orbiting somewhere in the interstellar space.

"**Synchronization: 70% clear."**

Koujiro Rinko looked at her fellow scientist with a worried look on her face. "Akihiko, are you certain about this? We could still go back and end this now." Her wavering voice gave away her lack of heart to what they were about to do. The goal was good but the means to achieve it was hard to swallow. Even if the synchronization was a success, the lives of others would be in jeopardy.

"**Synchronization: 80% clear."**

"If you can't stomach this Rinko, then leave me be." Kayaba Akihiko said deadpanned, not letting his eyes wander off. He continued to monitor the status of his sister who was inside a glass capsule filled with life support fluids and tubes connected to the body which carries oxygen.

It was the only way to do it.

For his beloved sister, Kayaba Mako.

* * *

Vance casually asked Mako a question as he ate the food they brought before they went out. "So Mako, how do you like Sword Art Online so far?"

Mako gripped the food she was holding and looked beyond the horizon, "Its... pretty amazing."

"She's just probably praising her brother's work. Haha." Raijin said as he continued to eat his food.

Mako shook her left from left to right. "No. That's not it!" She bit her lower lip as she continued in a weak voice. "You see... in reality... I'm blind. So, this is all new to me."

Vance had his mouth open before saying, "W-wow... that must be really tough." _Blind? Man, I don't really know what to say beyond this point._

Raijin started to talk, "I know how you feel since I can't move my right leg in reality normally like before. Virtual Reality makes you forget the bad things in reality and gives you the privilege of doing and gaining things that you can't in real life. Your brother, Kayaba Akihiko, made this possible by creating the Nerve Gear. You should be very proud of him."

Mako nodded with a smile on her face, "Yeah. I'm very proud of him."

Vance wailed as he said his thoughts out loud, "Ugh, why do you guys have to make me feel bad that I diss my life? Ugh, the only thing I loved about reality is running under the burning hot sun during club days."

Raijin and Mako laughed. "Oh? You got a good leg?" Raijin asked.

"Yeah, track and field. Ace runner. You?" Vance replied as he gave a toothy grin.

Raijin shifted his sitting position on a more comfortable one. "Soccer. I was a midfielder fielder once and was part of the Olympics team."

Vance's eye were wide open as he pointed his index finger at Raijin, "Wait... right leg... midfielder... Olympics team. Don't tell me you're that Shin Takaya?!"

"Yep, the one and only." Raijin chuckled.

Vance grinned as he continued to talk, "Man, you were a beast back then."

"Yeah," Raijin said, hiding the sadness behind his words. _I was, before that accident made me like this. _He shifted his head and looked at Mako, "So what about you Mako? What do you do back in real life?"

Mako was startled but she replied in kind of a left off trail, "I..."

Suddenly, her head hurts and everything turned into black and all text again. Before Vance and Raijin could go and check her status, they well all wrapped in a mysterious light and was transported into the centre of the Town of Beginnings along with thousands of players who were startled by the sudden forced teleportation.

* * *

What was happening?

* * *

**Author's note:** Hello everyone! It's been a while and I just updated this one in case you thought I abandoned it for some unknown reason. Thanks for sticking around and reading this story. On this chapter, there's a lot of conversations about tactics and stuffs, I hope I didn't bore you guys with those. And to be fair, for everyone that suggested that I should make my chapters longer, well here it is! And my god, it was so hard for me to make it.

English isn't really my first language so you guys have to bear for a good short length chapters after this. I'm sorry, but with my english skills, this is like hard for my brain. But never the less, I'll try my best to make the chapters longer.

Also on this chapter, it's a bit confusing isn't it? I don't blame you guys for being confused. These are all just ideas that popped into my head and I quickly made them happen. So, no editing was involved here. If you find any errors, please feel free to alarm me in the review section. :)

* * *

**Recruitment Page Announcement:** Again, I thank everyone who submitted their OCs to me. I'll give them a good role as soon as I get to the parts where I want them to come in. Please just have patience as I come up with ideas and write the story. So far, these are the OCs accepted and will be used.

[Crusher] Owner: **epicman**

[Vance] Owner: **Tears of a Spirit**

[Raijin] Owner: **Pandorasbox12**

Again, I would like to request that you guys would give me a feed back on how I used your characters and if there are some changes you want me to do, please share with me your thoughts. I'm open up with changes. Oh, since **epicman**'s OC hasn't appeared yet, please be patient, he'll appear very soon. :P

To everyone who read this super amazingly long chapter and author's note, kudos for you! Thanks a lot, XD. Please write a review about your thoughts for this chapter. It would really help me out and make my day. **Also SYOC is still open, so write your OCs at the Recruitment Page of the story!**

Until the next update~


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